February 2007 Bulletin - erausa.org

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NEW YORK DIVISION BULLETIN - FEBRUARY, 2007

TheBulletin

Vol. 50, No. 2 February, 2007

In This Issue:New York &StamfordRailwayCompany —History andTrack Plan...Page 2

New York Division, Electric Railroaders’ Association

The Bulletin

Published by the NewYork Division, ElectricRailroaders’ Association,Incorporated, PO Box3001, New York, NewYork 10008-3001.

For general inquiries,contact us at [email protected] by phone at (212)986-4482 (voice mailavailable). ERA’sw e b s i t e i swww.electricrailroaders.org.

Editorial Staff:Editor-in-Chief:Bernard LinderNews Editor:RandyGlucksmanContributing Editor:Jeffrey Erlitz

Production Manager:David Ross

©2007 New YorkDivision, ElectricR a i l r o a d e r s ’A s s o c i a t i o n ,Incorporated

Next Trip: Grand Central Terminal Tour, February 17

90 YEARS OF SUBWAY SERVICE TO ASTORIA90 YEARS OF SUBWAY SERVICE TO ASTORIAThe first Astoria train was a special train

that departed from Grand Central at 2 PMFebruary 1, 1917. On board were city offi-cials, borough officials, members of the Pub-lic Service Commission, and InterboroughRapid Transit Company officials. There werespecial celebrations near the new line.Houses and commercial buildings weredraped with flags and whistles were blown.When the train arrived at Ditmars Boulevard,the passengers alighted, and the train andguests were photographed. Members of theSteinway Civic Association took the guests inautomobiles and sightseeing cars throughportions of the Steinway and Astoria sections,after which they returned to Ditmars Boule-vard. The guests boarded the train again andreturned to Queensboro Plaza for formal ex-ercises at the Queens Chamber of Com-merce. There was a Long Island City night ofentertainment at the Bohemian Hall, locatedat the Ditmars Boulevard station.

Queens residents were anxious to haverapid transit when they heard about theBrooklyn Bridge cable railway. William Stein-way, whose business interests centered inAstoria, was deeply interested in rapid transitin New York City. He was Chairman of theRapid Transit Commission for a few years.Because of his foresight, New York pos-sesses a modern rapid transit system.

The Astoria Line is a part of the routeadopted by the Public Service Commissionon October 10, 1911. Route 37 includes theAstoria Line and the portion of the CoronaLine as far east as Woodside. The Board ofEstimate and Apportionment approved theroute on October 26, 1911 and MayorGaynor gave his approval on April 8, 1912.

The Commission adopted a resolution direct-ing the preparation of plans and form of con-tract for the Astoria Line and the Corona Lineon June 14, 1912. The form of contract wasadopted on December 17, 1912 and a publichearing was scheduled for January 4, 1913.The Municipal Art Commission approved thetype of structure on December 27, 1912. Bidswere received on January 28, 1913 and thecontract was awarded to the Cooper and Ev-ans Company for $860,743.50. The contractfor station finish was let to Charles Mead andCompany at a cost of $268,102.50. A con-tract for the installation of tracks, which alsocovered Queensboro Plaza and the CoronaLine, was awarded at a cost of $204,898.10.Approximately $55,000 was chargeable totrack installation on the Astoria Line and itsstructural connections to Queensboro Plaza.The total cost of the line without equipment,which was furnished by the operating compa-nies, was about $1.35 million.

The Queensboro Plaza station, which costapproximately $500,000, was described asthe largest elevated station in the world. Itwas 480 feet long and 90 feet wide, with amezzanine and four tracks on each of thetwo levels.

The Astoria and Corona Lines were theonly rapid transit lines with joint operation ofIRT and BRT/BMT trains. The Transit Com-mission’s reports explained how the fareswere apportioned. The trackage agreementbetween the Interborough Rapid TransitCompany and the New York Municipal Rail-way Company (BRT) dated March 10, 1913stated, “The Interborough Company shallaccord to the Railway Corporation

(Continued on page 4)

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NEW YORK DIVISION BULLETIN OCTOBER, 2000NEW YORK DIVISION BULLETIN - FEBRUARY, 2007

NEW YORK & STAMFORD RAILWAY COMPANYNEW YORK & STAMFORD RAILWAY COMPANYby Bernard Linderby Bernard Linder


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New York & Stamford Railway CompanyNorth Portion

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New York & Stamford Railway Company(Continued from page 2)


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Third Avenue Railway Com-pany operated most of the trol-ley lines in southern West-chester County. But New York& Stamford, whose carsceased operating in 1927, wasone of the forgotten West-chester County transit systems.The 20-mile main line ex-tended from Larchmont toStamford, Connecticut withseveral short branches in Ryeand Larchmont.

In August, 1901, the PortChester Street Railroad andthe Larchmont Horse Railwaywere consolidated to form theNew York & Stamford Railway,which was owned by the NewYork, New Haven & HartfordRailroad for some time. In thesame month, the company alsotook over the Greenwich Tram-way, which always remained aseparate corporation organizedunder an old charter.

On January 1, 1905, the Con-solidated Railway Company,also owned by the NYNH&H,bought the New York & Stam-ford for $1.4 million, or $150per share. This acquisitiongave Consolidated a link be-tween its Connecticut lines andthe lines of New York City’s

Metropolitan Street RailwayCompany. The system wasmostly single track with an ex-treme length of 20 miles fromLarchmont to Stamford, pass-ing through Larchmont,Mamaroneck, Harrison, andRye in New York’s WestchesterCounty. In Connecticut, it con-nected East Port Chester,Greenwich, Cos Cob, River-side, and Sound Beach.

The total trackage of thisstandard gauge road, includingbranches, sidings, and double-tracked portions, was about 50miles. Rails were 70-pound Tand 101-pound girder. FromPort Chester to Rye, the linewas double-tracked to handlethe crowds traveling to t\hisresort in the summer.

There were four generatingunits, with a total capacity of1,525 kilowatts in the PortChester power house. All thecoal and heavy freight weretransported to this powerhouse on a siding connectingto the New Haven Railroadtracks. An office building, twocar houses, and a repair shop,heated by exhaust steam fromthe engines, were adjacent tothe power house.

New York & Stamford Railway Company(Continued from page 3)

From Bus Transportation Vol. 7 No. 1, January, 1928.Bernard Linder collection

(BRT)...equal facilities androom for sale of tickets throughthe agents of the Railway Cor-poration.”

In accordance with the agree-ment, two ticket booths wereinstalled. A barrier at the centerseparated both halves of theplatform. IRT trains started run-ning in 1917, but the BMT didnot start running trains until1923. Riding increased rapidlyand the IRT operated seven-car rush hour trains in 1919. Ifthe companies originally in-

tended to divide the platformwith a barrier, they must havefound that it was impractical.

On May 28, 1923, nearly twomonths after the BMT trainsstarted operating on the Astoriaand Corona Lines, the compa-nies signed an agreement re-garding the apportionment ofrevenues from the jointly oper-ated Queens lines. This docu-ment stated that the passengerrevenue and station expenseswere to be apportioned in pro-portion to the number of carmiles operated by each com-pany.

Because this agreement was

(Continued from page 1)


90 Years of Subway Serviceto Astoria

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unfair to the IRT, a new agreement approved on July 27,1927 stated that the fares would be apportioned in theratio of passengers carried by each company.


90 Years of Subway Service to Astoria

Queensboro Plaza, looking east, circa 1935. The track layout waspublished in the January, 1992 issue.

Bernard Linder collection

Queensboro Plaza, June 8, 1948, looking west.Bernard Linder collection

Queensboro Plaza, looking east, June 8, 1948, showing girder to beremoved due to revised track layout for through service to Astoria.


Your Editor-in-Chief and his beautiful wife pose on a temporarybridge during a Memorial Day reroute, May 29, 1949.


Queensboro Plaza looking west on May 29, 1949,with a girder being removed.

Bernard Linder photograph


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90 Years of Subway Service to Astoria(Continued from page 5)

Queensboro Plaza, looking east on May 29, 1949.Bernard Linder photograph

Queensboro Plaza, looking east from street level on June 7, 1962.Bernard Linder photograph

Bridge Plaza near Jackson Avenue on June 7, 1962.Bernard Linder photograph

Bridge Plaza North, east of Queensboro Plaza station, on June 7,1962.

Bernard Linder photograph

Queensboro Plaza atstreet level, June 7,

1962 .Bernard Linder photo-

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Metropolitan Transportation AuthorityWith Governor Eliot Spitzer taking over as of January

1, there has been a change of top management at MTA.First to go was the Inspector General, Matthew D.Sansverie, an appointee of former governor George E.Pataki, who resigned on November 14, 2006. The NewYork Times reported this on December 15, and also thefact that there had been an anonymous report aboutsome misconduct. The now former IG denied the alle-gations and said that he resigned because there was anelection, “there is going to be a new governor, andthere’s no possibility of reappointment as far as I cansee now.”

Also gone is Katherine N. Lapp, who had been theExecutive Director. Her replacement is Elliott G. Sander,whose background includes Chairman of the Transpor-tation Research Board's (TRB) Committee on LargeU.S. Cities, a senior advisor to National Association ofCity Transportation Officials (NACTO), and Commis-sioner of the New York City Taxi and Limousine Com-mission from 1994-1996. When Chairman Peter Kali-kow steps down as is expected, it is planned that Mr.Sander will become the Chairman, while also keepingthe titles of Executive Director and Chief Executive Offi-cer.

Quite by accident, I was in Grand Central Terminal onDecember 18, 2006 only minutes after the ceremony inwhich it was announced that MTA would receive $2.6billion in federal funding for the East Side Access Pro-ject. The technical name for this is a Full FundingAgreement, and the new DOT Secretary, Mary Peters,was on hand to deliver this good news. It is estimatedthat about half of LIRR’s 106,000 riders are destined tothe east side of Manhattan. ESA will utilize the presentlyunused lower tubes of the 63rd Street Tunnel. F trainsoperate in the upper level. Although I did not see all ofthe politicians and MTA officials who were there, I didsee Sen. Charles Schumer, a supporter of this project,who was granting interviews to several news reporters.Completion is set for 2013.MTA Metro-North Railroad (East)

The repair of the M-7As’ flat wheels that were causedby autumn’s leaves on the tracks was a major effort. Ihave reports that about a dozen M-7As were sent to theLIRR Ash Street facility in Queens to have their wheelstrued. At the same time they were given some post-production modifications. Normally there is a continuousstream of about 6 cars at any given time that are off theproperty for "mod" work by Bombardier, which has ex-clusive use of this facility. There is a wheel truing millthere and MNR simply increased the number of carssent there for mod work by sending up to 12 cars for

this work that happened to need their wheels re-trued.MNR also sent a bunch of M-7As to New Haven forwheel truing and even sent some to Amtrak's wheel tru-ing machine at Rensselaer Shop. On January 8, TheJournal News reported that all flat wheels were re-paired. At the worst, 200 of the 336 M-7s were out ofservice.

For Martin Luther King Day, which was celebrated onMonday, January 15, Metro-North operated a Saturdayschedule, with additional trains on each line during theAM and PM peak hours. This differed from the level ofservice operated by the metropolitan area’s other railoperators, LIRR and NJ Transit. They ran a regularweekday schedule. I have to tell you that the NJ Transittrains that I rode were lightly patronized.

Metro-North, LIRR, NYCT, PATH, NJ Transit, SEPTA,and PATCO are members of a group called the NewYork Regional Rail Consortium. This arrangement al-lows the member agencies to purchase parts, etc., inlarger quantities, thus assuring better pricing, which re-sults in economic savings for taxpayers. One recentexample was a contract with WABCO for common rail-car replacement parts.MTA Metro-North Railroad (West)

Metro-North has been granted approval to solicit re-quests via an RFP (request for proposals) to select arailcar remanufacturer to overhaul the four F-40s thatare being purchased from NJ Transit (January, 2007Bulletin) and four that are already in service. 4191-2(ex-Amtrak 370 and 382) and 4193-4 (ex-Amtrak 308and 310) have been operating since 1999 and 2004,respectively, and will be in need of a mid-life overhaul.

There is more to the Bar Car story that was reportedin the January Bulletin. The New York Times on De-cember 22, 2006 reported that LIRR operates two trainswith portable bars, something of which I was not aware.Unlike the New Haven Line timetables, there is no noteor martini glass to inform riders about this service. Thetrains that have these (red) carts are #166 (6:33 PM toBabylon) and #670 (7:22 PM to Huntington), althoughthe bartender detrains at Hicksville. Needless to say, hiscustomers were not at all happy with the possibility oflosing this service.

A new General Order was not issued when the De-cember 18, 2006-February 25, 2007 timetables wereissued. These schedules listed the extra Christmas andNew Year’s Day trains.

Thousands of commuters heading for home on Friday,January 5 were delayed for several hours while policeinvestigated the death of a 13-year-old boy who wasstruck and killed near the Forest Hills station by east-


Commuter and Transit Notes No. 219by Randy Glucksman

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bound Huntington Train #1726, which had departedfrom Penn Station at 5:17 PM. The Journal News re-ported that the boy’s friends described his “passion” forbeing a “graffiti artist” using the graffiti tag "Kos." It isbelieved that he may have taken pictures of his workjust before he died, sources said. MTA police recovereda cell phone at the scene and were checking to see if ithad pictures by him or his friends. His mother, whorushed to the scene, later fainted at the 112th Precinctpolice station. A family friend who is an attorney told themedia that the family would be suing MTA, LIRR, andthe city of New York.

Fellow columnist Jeff Erlitz sent a correction to theitem about the Long Island Rail Road tower situationthat appeared in the December 2006 Bulletin. The LIRRhas 10 towers (plus two unmanned drawbridges) still inuse.

Main LineHarold (normally unmanned and remote from PSCC)

Jay (west of Jamaica)Hall (east of Jamaica)

Queens (Queens Village)Nassau (Mineola)Divide (Hicksville)

Atlantic BranchBrook (Flatbush Avenue)Dunton (west of Jamaica)

Montauk BranchDutch Kills Drawbridge (actually Secondary Track C at

this point)Valley (Valley Stream)

BabylonLong Beach Branch

Lead (Wreck Lead or Reynolds Channel, drawbridgeeast of Island Park)

Montauk Cutoff Secondary TrackCabin M (drawbridge over Dutch Kills)

Dutch Kills and Cabin M drawbridges are not mannedand are opened only upon advance notice, assumingthat they can still actually be physically opened. PondTower in Fresh Pond and Locust Tower in Locust Valleyare still standing (with Locust actually having been re-stored) and were formerly mechanical interlockings, aswas PD (Patchogue). Locust had its mechanical inter-locking machine replaced in 1965 and the railroadstopped using the tower in 1975 when the interlockingbecame remote from Nassau. Pond was mechanicaluntil the day it closed in 1985. The mechanical machineat PD was replaced in 1992. I believe Nassau Towerlost its mechanical interlocking machine in the 1990salso.

In early January, member Ron Yee reported that a pairof mismated M-7s, 7118/7147, has been in Ash StreetYard in Long Island City for 3 months. Who knows what

happened to their mates?I have written several times about the ex-LIRR “Ping

Pong,” T-51 921, which resided adjacent to the LongIsland Expressway, between Exits 51 and 52 in Dix Hillsfor many years. Please note that I used the word“resided,” because it was removed sometime in mid-December, 2006. It had been unused for more than ayear. Temporarily, there are plans to replace it with apre-fabricated building, but there were no details pro-vided. In the January, 2004 and July, 2005 Bulletins, Iwrote that the car was to be replaced by 2007. Thanksto member Joe Gagne for sending this report fromNewsday.NJ Transit

A little more than a week after the multi-level cars en-tered service, I found them on a slightly earlier connect-ing train from NY Penn Station to Secaucus than I nor-mally ride. The consist was the same as December 11,2006, the day that it made its inaugural run. I asked onecrewmember how she likes the train, and while she didnot complain, one thing that she mentioned is the needto constantly walk up and down the stairs to check tick-ets. There are five steps down to the lower level andfive steps to the upper level. I located a forward facingseat on the upper level and found that the ride was verysmooth. A friend told me that he had seen a two-cartrain of MLVs operating on the North Jersey Coast Linethe previous Sunday evening, December 17.

New timetables were issued for all lines except Atlan-tic City, Montclair-Boonton and Raritan Valley effectiveJanuary 14, mostly to remove the pre-Christmas/NewYear’s service modifications. There were some otherchanges, too. Northeast Corridor Line riders now havea new train, #3945, which departs NY Penn for Trentonat 1:01 PM and operates via express between Newarkand Princeton Junction. Weekend train #7802 (12:08AM Trenton) has added stops at Hamilton, Edison, andMetuchen. On the North Jersey Coast Line, there werea few late-night changes on weekends. M&E Train#6616 starts from Dover three minutes earlier, but ar-rives at NY Penn at the same time, 8:16 AM. A few Se-caucus connection times were changed for the Main/Bergen and Pascack Valley Lines, as NJ Transit isagain using 5 minutes as the minimum.

Last November, NJ Transit awarded a $4.4 millioncontract to construct high-level platforms at the SouthAmboy station. In recent years a new pedestrian over-pass has been constructed and a grade crossing hasbeen eliminated. The new platform will be a center is-land and the contract includes relocating the existingtrack and catenary structure. More than 1,300 custom-ers use this station each day.

There is nothing official yet, but according to the NewJersey Association of Railroad Passengers, a BLET(Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen)source reported that there is an Arrow IV spec (not



Commuter and Transit Notes

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Silverliner V) floating around NJT and being preparedfor RFQ (request for quotation). It would seem to defycurrent purchasing trends, but this person insistsstrongly that such a draft spec exists. If it is approved,the Arrow IIIs will get a minor rebuild, permanently-mated four-car sets eliminating two cabs and modifica-tions to the remaining cabs that eliminate the Engineer'sdoor.

It seems that from time immemorial, or at least untilJuly 3, 2005, NJ Transit riders were able to use themonthly pass from the previous month for the inboundtrip on the first commuting day of the new month. Begin-ning in July, 2005, train crews made announcementsthat riders were required to have the ticket for the newmonth. Recently I only heard this announcement on thehomeward trip, which piqued my curiosity. Checking thetimetables that were issued since that date, I found thatin the April 23, 2006 edition the following words wereadded to the section which describes monthly tickets:“and are valid until noon on the first commuting week-day of the following month.”

NJ Transit Executive Director George D. Warringtonannounced his resignation on January 11, to becomeeffective March 30. The announcement came as a sur-prise to many in state government. He was appointed tothis position in March, 2002. In a letter to his employeeshe cited his many accomplishments, including procure-ment of new railcars and buses, the opening of Mont-clair Connection, Secaucus Transfer, and RiverLine,and extension of the Hudson-Bergen and Newark LightRail Lines. Mr. Warrington had previously been with NJTransit in its early years. The Bergen Record reportedthat he would “pursue other opportunities that were tooattractive to ignore.” At the same time he declined tosay whether he had a job offer.

The folder in which I put articles for this column hashad an article that was written by Alan Kramer in 2003.Its title is NJ TRANSIT’S COMET-I CARS – A REVIEW. In-tended for earlier publication, I have held it back be-cause a majority of the fleet is still in service. At thattime it was believed that with delivery of 265 Comet Vs(200 NJ Transit and 65 Metro-North) these cars wouldno longer be required. However, in the interim ridershipgrew and NJ Transit has increased the number oftrains, so these cars continue to soldier on. The“Sliders“ (1600- and 1700-series) were removed fromservice at the end of 2005. The remaining cars (5100-cabs and 5700-coaches) will probably begin to disap-pear from Hoboken Division trains once sufficient quan-tities of the multi-level cars are in service on the North-east Corridor, and the cars that they replace are shiftedto Hoboken. In the course of my commuting, I see thesecars nearly every day, and occasionally find them as-signed to a train that I ride.

A new timetable was issued for Newark Light Rail asof January 6. One change was to standardize the run-ning time between Penn Station and Broad Street at 8minutes 7 days a week. With the September 16, 2006edition, the running time was 8 minutes weekdays only.The run time between Broad Street and Penn Stationremains at 9 minutes. Weekday service to Broad Streetnow begins ½ hour earlier at 5:18 AM, while the lastdeparture from Broad Street is 20 minutes later at 12:34AM.Port Authority Trans-Hudson Corporation

A study that was done by the prestigious LawrenceLivermore National Laboratory and Rensselaer Poly-technic Institute has determined that PATHs HudsonRiver tunnels are vulnerable to a bomb attack. And, ifthat were to occur, the tunnels would flood very quickly.The problem stems from the fact that they are con-structed of steel rings, the majority of which are notcoated with concrete and lie on the riverbed, not in bed-rock. One recommendation is the placing of what aredescribed as “concrete blankets” that are known asGeotextile Concrete Mats atop the tubes, which wouldplug any holes that would be caused by a bomb blast.Installation of flood gates to prevent system flooding isanother recommendation, and $71 million has alreadybeen committed to install gates at World Trade Centerand Exchange Place. After the terrorist attacks of 9/11,these tubes flooded.

The July-December, 2003 issue of Headlights arrivedin late December, 2006, and it contained an articleabout the restoration of PATH service to World TradeCenter on November 23, 2003. At that time PA pre-dicted that there would be less ridership than before9/11, so I decided to compare the schedules before thatinfamous date and today. Please note that prior to 9/11NWK/WTC trains were 8 cars. Today they are 7. Theresults appear in the table below.

Port Authority of New York & New JerseyIn December, then New York Governor-elect Eliot

Spitzer named a replacement to PA. Anthony E. Shorrisbecame the Executive Director, replacing Kenneth J.Ringler, Jr. who has held that position since October 21,2004.

In order to finance its 10-year, $26 billion capital con-struction program PA’s Chairman, Anthony Coscia, hassignaled that PATH fares and bridge and tunnel tolls willhave to be increased. Fares and tolls have remainedunchanged since 2001. This program includes theTrans-Hudson rail tunnel, approximately $4 billion for




ROUTE APRIL 29, 2001 OCTOBER 29, 2006 DIFFERENCENWK/WTC 15 13 -2HOB/WTC 7 5 -2HOB/33 6 6 0JSQ/33 11 12 +1Total 39 36 -3

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improvements at Newark, Kennedy, and LaGuardia Air-ports, plus development of Stewart Airport in Newburgh,New York as a fourth regional airport. Then there is $1billion for construction of a new span to replace the 78-year-old Goethals Bridge between Elizabeth, New Jer-sey and Staten Island, more than $8 billion for work atthe World Trade Center for the new PATH Terminal andredevelopment of the site, and $2 billion that could beallocated to the East Side Access Project or the SecondAvenue Subway. The proposed increases would notoccur until 2008, and only with the approvals of Gover-nors Spitzer and Corzine.Metropolitan Area

Shortly after 9 AM Monday, January 8, 2007, I beganto notice an odor of seemed to be natural gas at myoffice near NY Penn Station. Natural gas is odorless,and the addition of methyl mercaptan gives it its notice-able smell. Almost immediately terrorism was ruled out,and the initial reports had cities in New York and NewJersey pointing fingers at each other as the cause ofthe odor. PATH suspended service to the WTC and 33rd

Street. I received an email alert from NJ Transit inform-ing me of the PATH service suspension and the fact thatNJ Transit was cross-honoring PATH fare cards. I can-not ever remember this happening before. Service wasrestored just before 11 AM. At week’s end, the source ofthe odor still remained a mystery.Amtrak

While checking the current Fall-Winter timetable, Inoticed that there are listings for two Empire Servicetrains thatare not yet operating. “Note 4” in the columnsfor Trains #228/229 reads that service will begin on adate to be announced. When they go into service, thesetrains will operate as expresses between NY Penn Sta-tion and Albany. Their departure and arrival times will beas follows: #228 – 7:40 AM NY Penn/9:50 AM Albany.Train #229 departs Albany at 3:55 PM and arrives backat NY Penn at 6:05 PM. As of mid-January, when thiscolumn was completed, the service had not yet begun.Election Day 2006

Railway Age and Progressive Railroading reportedthe results of last November’s election where transitquestions were on the ballot. Voters in 13 states gavethe green light to 21 of 30 transportation-related meas-ures, which authorized more than $40 billion to buildand improve public transit systems and highways.

California led the way with approval of three proposi-tions. Proposition 1A mandates that taxes collectedfrom motor vehicles may only be used for transportationimprovements, while 1B authorizes issuance of $19.9billion in bonds for rail and road transit projects. Propo-sition 1C sets aside $300 million to spur transit-relateddevelopment. Orange County voters renewed MeasureM, which is a half-cent sales tax that will provide $11.8

billion for county transit/highway improvements for a 30-year period beginning in 2011, when the current Propo-sition M expires. Metrolink is to receive $2 billion forservice expansion.

In Kansas City, voters approved the building of a 27-mile light rail system. Unfortunately, there were no spe-cifics on what would be built or how it would be funded.The approval caught the city administration off guardbecause in six previous attempts the initiative was notapproved. Voters in Salt Lake County, Utah, approved asales tax increase to fund light rail and commuter railprojects. In Minnesota a constitutional amendment wasapproved that requires the dedication of all motor vehi-cle tax revenues to transportation projects. Grapevine,Texas voters approved a sales tax to pay for a com-muter rail connection.

Not every pro-transit initiative was approved. In Spo-kane, Washington, voters turned down two light railmeasures and in Broward County, Florida, a proposal tofund a 30-year, $5.4 billion transit program was re-jected.2006 In Review – The Leftovers

As promised last month, this completes 2006. Pleasenote that CATA’s (Little Rock) 0.9-mile trolley extensionto the President Bill Clinton Library did not open in De-cember. However, beginning Monday, January 8, 2007,the intersection of 2nd and Commerce was closed for 2-5 days to electrify the section between the existingroute and the new extension. This meant that the RiverRail streetcar could not run in Little Rock. CATA oper-ated a trolley bus on the streetcar route, with a detour atCommerce Street, during the construction.

Other Transit SystemsBoston, Massachusetts

In conjunction with the January 1 fare increase, com-muter rail line timetables were reissued. All are now inthe glossy color format that was introduced on July 24,2006 for the Providence/Stoughton Line, although theseare in the smaller size. The “T” notified customers that ithoped that the switch to this more durable paper willencourage riders to keep their copies rather than dis-card them so readily. Also in the smaller format was




Decem-ber 11

Metra Chicago North Central Line 1 station(Grand/Cicero)opens, Craginand Hermosa

closeDecem-ber 11

Mid-Council ofGovernmentsand New Mex-

ico DOT

Albu-querque

RailRunner 1 station (LosLunas)

Decem-ber 15

SacramentoRTD

Sacra-mento

Folsom Corridor 0.55 mile ex-tension to Am-

trak stationDecem-ber 19

New OrleansRTA

NewOrleans

St.. Charles,Canal Street. to Lee

Circle restored

DATE OPERATOR CITY LINE NOTES

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issued an MBTA Fares and Passes folder. Thanks toTodd Glickman for sending copies.

The E Line was restored to Heath Street as of Decem-ber 29, 2006. Service on this half-mile stretch of theGreen Line was shut down for three months for trackrepairs, forcing more than 2,000 daily riders to takebuses between Brigham Circle and Heath Street. Thismeans a return of the Bredas.

As has been previously reported, implementation ofCharlieCards, CharlieTickets, and new fares, hasbrought an end to some long-standing quirks in Bos-ton’s fare collection system. The Boston Globe re-ported: “For decades, ‘T’ riders in the western suburbshave taken advantage of free outbound trips on theGreen Line, if they boarded at an above-ground station.But those free rides home, especially for thousands offans after Red Sox games, ended with the January 1fare increase that also gets rid of a bevy of historicalMBTA fare anomalies, which also include exit fares atsome Red Line stations. The overhaul will make thefares equitable for all riders.” If you get on the train, youshould know that it’s $1.70, and it is the same as if youare on the Red, Green, Orange, Blue, or Silver Line.The free outbound rides — west of Kenmore on the B,C and D and west of Symphony on the E, have beenaround so long that current “T” officials do not knowexactly how they started. Local rail historians say zonedfares existed ever since the Green Line's Kenmore-to-Brookline Village run opened in 1847. In the late 1970sor early 1980s, when the system began using the samestreetcars that are still on the Mattapan Line, it provedfaster for passengers to get on and off the two-doorcars without outbound fares. "If you don't build an en-tirely controlled system from the beginning . . . it getsinteresting," said John Reading, editor of The Callboy,the monthly publication of the Massachusetts Bay Rail-road Enthusiasts. "We are betwixt and between, andwe'll see what happens." As a result, some riders will bepaying more, and some will be paying less.

Several emails that Todd sent addressed complaintsto The Boston Globe and hopefully also MBTA aboutthe myriad of problems that riders have had with theCharlieCards. Cards did not work, monthly passes werenot received, and, if they were, they were the wrongkind. MBTA officials were working to straighten out theteething problems with their new fare collection system.

On Wednesday, January 10, Train #322 (1:15 PMLowell/North Station) struck a track maintenance vehiclethat was stopped while the workers were replacing tieson the Boston-bound tracks between the Mishawumstation and the Montvale Avenue crossing in Woburnsince just after the morning rush hour. Two of the work-ers were killed and four others were critically injured.Ten of the 43 passengers aboard the train requested

medical treatment. MBTA officials were investigatingwhy Train #322 was not switched over to the adjacenttrack. The Boston Globe reported that the switches areremotely set from an operations center on Cobble HillRoad in Somerville, which controls train movementsnorth of Boston. “T” officials said four inbound trains hadbeen rerouted without incident through the work siteprior to the accident. Four outbound trains also passedthe area safely. The following day, investigators ruledout mechanical problems and were focusing on humanerror. A Dispatcher, who was on duty at the time in thecontrol center, was put on administrative leave pendingthe results of the investigation.

Todd commutes on this line, and when he learned ofthis accident he devised a “Plan B” to get home. Here ishis report. “Given the bustitution between Winchesterand Anderson/Woburn, and the knowledge that thou-sands of people per hour would need to be accommo-dated - with likely too few buses - I elected to take dif-ferent route home. From Kendall/MIT at 5 PM, I took theRed Line to South Station, and then the Silver Line toLogan Airport, where I arrived at 5:28 PM. I caught the5:30 ‘Logan Express’ that goes to Woburn — the sameAnderson Regional Transportation Center that servesthe Commuter Rail where my car was parked. TheLogan Express bus cost me $11, but I was at the Ander-son RTC by 6:15 PM, and home by 6:30 PM. Therewere reports of people who used the train/bustitutionhaving 2-3 hour trips.” So you see why it pays to knowabout alternate routes. I can remember when I was aMotorman (yes that was my title) oftentimes when therewere service disruptions, you would be amazed thatsome people only knew ONE way to get to/from work.”

More rolling stock will be coming to MBTA. Accordingto a report in The Boston Globe, bid openings havebeen set for March 6 for 38 locomotives and on March22 for 75 bi-level coaches. The “T” has budgeted $310million for the purchase — $120 million for the locomo-tives and $190 million for the coaches. It is expectedthat federal grants will fund some of these purchases.The bid for locomotives and coaches could be awardedin the fall, with delivery over a period of three to fiveyears, officials said. New equipment is needed becausethe current fleet is aging and ridership is increasing – up3.4% in the first nine months of 2006. Presently, thefleet is comprised of 410 coaches, including 140 bi-leveland 270 single-level coaches, and 80 locomotives.Daily requirements are 333 coaches and 56 locomo-tives. Those numbers will increase to 357 coaches and60 locomotives when the Greenbush Line begins ser-vice this summer. About 74,000 passengers are carriedon an average weekday. Thanks to Todd for these re-ports.Rochester, New York

The city of Rochester has secured a $300,000 federalgrant to study whether to fill in the abandoned (since




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July 1, 1956) subway tunnels. Until stopped by a con-cerned citizens group, using the slogan “Chill the Fill,”Rochester was about to spend $20 million to fill in thosetunnels. Thanks to member Karl Groh for this report.Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Thanks to member Lee Winson, who sent the follow-ing three reports. “The city of Philadelphia arrangedspecial New Year's celebrations at Penn’s Landing. Toaccommodate visitors, SEPTA’s Regional Rail ran extratrains on most lines well after midnight (most RegionalRail lines shut down around midnight). I noticed a num-ber of young people boarding trains for Center City ear-lier on New Year's Eve, but I don't know how well theoutbound service performed. There was a large crowdof people boarding at Princeton Junction for New York.

“SEPTA has reduced the parking fee at its newBridge-Pratt Frankford elevated terminal parking ga-rage. The rates are Daily Parking – Monday-Friday $3,Saturday-Sunday $2, and monthly about $2 a day de-pending on frequency.”

“I don't know the actual numbers, but noticed a num-ber of Eagles football fans using Regional Rail trains toget to the stadium for the big game between them andthe Jets on Sunday, January 7, 2007. They transferredto the Broad Street Subway at Fern Rock to go directlyto the stadium by special express trains. (The FernRock transfer between the subway and Regional Railwas built in the 1980s for the Railworks reconstructionproject. No transfer at that location existed before, al-though the former Logan train station was atop theBroad Street Subway Logan station.)”

SEPTA issued a new timetable for the R5-Lansdale/Doylestown which restored midday service. Thanks tomember Gregory Campolo for sending copies.

Member David W. Safford wrote that, “SEPTA an-nounced a short-term budget fix which involves cancel-ing most capital projects next year. As all expansionprojects have long since been on hold or abandoned,this means a clamp on track work and station upgrades.I suspect, but do not know, that the Paoli track upgrademay be down the tubes.”

Member Henry J. Adamcik (via member Ray Berger)had some compliments as well as these commentsabout some recent columns.

“1. December, 2006 — You are, indeed, quite right:the Red Arrow converted its Ardmore Rail Line to bus-ses forty years ago, in December, 1966. This was not,however, the end of rail operations on West ChesterPike, which continued until Winter, 1971-72, when theLlanerch car barn (under SEPTA, by then) was closedand Sharon Hill/Media Shops were moved into the Mar-ket-Frankford Shop complex. A total of eleven non-revenue trips were scheduled Monday-Friday as part ofregular run assignments to rotate cars for routine main-

tenance. Eleven went outbound after the AM rush, withfour returning at that time and seven in the PM forPM Rush service. I witnessed at least one revenuemovement during either the winter of 1967 or 1968 onmy way home in the PM. It had started to snow and theWest Chester Pike service was tied up. A rail car (an 80car) was commandeered and sent into revenue serviceto Llanerch to get some of the crowd home.

“Today, the old Ardmore Rail Line is but a shadow ofitself running weekdays only and mostly hourly withhalf-hourly service in the peak hours.

2. “January, 2007 — PLEASE, PLEASE!!!!! DON'TEVER REFER TO THE PHILADELPHIA 8000 SERIESCARS AS ‘PETER WITT’ CARS. That term was neverused here! They were either ‘Eight Thousands’ or‘Eighty-Hunnerts.’” So now we know.

Member Bob Wright also commented on the Red Ar-row item, some of which were similar to Henry’s(above). “For the most part, there remains today, only asmall yard in the Pike's median just west of 69th Street,which serves as car storage, and most cars were keptthere, returning to the barn only when necessary.”Washington, D.C. area

As requested by members of the community, the Yel-low Line was extended to the Fort Totten Metrorail sta-tion during off-peak hours as of Sunday, December 31,2006. The new extended service adds five extra stopson the northern end of the line and provides additionaloff-peak rail service to the Shaw-Howard University, UStreet/African-American Civil War Memorial/Cardozo,Columbia Heights, and Georgia Avenue-Petworth sta-tions. Weekday off-peak service (9:30 AM to 3 PM) op-erates every six minutes. Weeknight (after 7 PM) andweekend service runs every 7-10 minutes. This is an18-month pilot project, and its $18.5 million cost is beingpaid by the District of Columbia.

For the funeral for former President Gerald R. Ford,Metrorail operated additional train service. There wereother events, including a Redskins football game andend-of-the-year events. Six-car trains were operated onall lines, and extra trains were available as needed.Metrorail provided the following service information: OnSaturday, December 30, 2006, the public viewing ofPresident Ford’s body began at 7:30 PM in the U.S.Capitol Rotunda and the Redskins had an 8 PM gameat FedEx Field. Metrorail had 10 extra trains strategi-cally stationed throughout the system to make sure pas-sengers got to their destinations. 15 extra trains wereavailable on Sunday, December 31 and 17 on Monday,January 1. On both days, trains operated on a weekendschedule. Normal weekday service resumed on Tues-day at 5 AM.

The former President’s body laid in state at the Capitoluntil Tuesday morning for a funeral service at the Na-tional Cathedral. It was recommended that those goingto the U.S. Capitol over the weekend to pay respects to




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the former President use these Metrorail stations: Capi-tol South and Eastern Market on the Blue and OrangeLines, Union Station and Judiciary Square on the RedLine, and L’Enfant Plaza on the Green and YellowLines.South Florida

Metro-Dade suffered the first train derailment in its 22-year history. On December 21, 2006 at 11:51 AM, anorthbound train went off the tracks about ¼ mile southof the Dadeland North station. About 50 passengerswere walked to the station by rescue workers and ninerequested to be examined by the paramedics who wereon scene. Seven went to area hospitals. The MiamiHerald reported the cause of the derailment was anantenna, which is mounted to the front of each vehicle,falling off the fifth car while the train was over theswitches between the Dadeland North and South sta-tions. The derailed car was dragged about 300 yardsbefore the power was automatically cut off. Limited ser-vice was provided for much of the rest of the day. Miamiopened its heavy rail system (it is not a subway) on May20, 1984, and the current daily ridership is 60,000.Thanks to Karl Groh for this report.New Orleans, Louisiana

On December 19, 2006, after I completed my columnfor the January Bulletin, I received an email from mem-ber Frank Pfuhler that New Orleans RTA had re-startedtrolley service on the St. Charles Line, from CanalStreet to Lee Circle. This is the initial phase of a three-part project that is expected to last at least 15 months.Next will be Lee Circle to Napoleon Avenue, which isexpected to open by summer. The final segment, fromNapoleon to the terminus on Carrollton Avenue, will notbe finished until spring or early summer of 2008. Ser-vice had not operated since Hurricane Katrina, August29, 2005. The last report that I had told of the entire linebeing back this fall, so this certainly is good news.

Member Ron Yee and his wife spent three days inNew Orleans during Christmas week, and sent the fol-lowing report. Besides enjoying the culinary delights,there was ample time to ride the vintage Perley ThomasSt. Charles street cars, which are temporarily operatingon the Canal Street and Riverfront Lines.

“The street car system of New Orleans was devas-tated after New Orleans was hit by Hurricane Katrina's130+ mph winds that created a storm surge that causednumerous levee failures, flooding many parts of the cityunder 2-15 feet of water for weeks. The FTA-funded,heavily built infrastructure of the ‘new’ Canal Street Lineproved its mettle through the storm; the roadbed, trackand catenary support structures all weathered the stormwell (one case where it was worth building an LRT infra-structure to standards which many of us have oftenjoked about looking strong enough to be able to accom-

modate high-speed TGVs or resembling Amtrak'sNortheast Corridor with Acelas). In relatively short time,the catenary was re-strung and temporary power trans-formers (one borrowed from Boston's MBTA) had theline ready to resume service just a few months afterKatrina had hit. However, the fancy new ‘old look’ ADA-compliant (handicapped-accessible) trolleys purchasedto equip this line as well as the touristy Riverfront Lineserving the corridor spanning from the famous and his-toric French Quarter to the Convention Center did notfare as well. The new car barn they were stored at waslocated on an inexpensive parcel of land that was belowsea level. It spent several weeks under 3+ feet of brack-ish water, the salty water totally wrecking all underfloorcomponents. (For all you bus fans out there, a largeportion of the city bus fleet was lost in this manner, too,flooded up to the fareboxes). One of these million-dollarLRVs is currently off the property for evaluation and pi-lot program rebuild to see if it is in fact a feasible thingto do with that entire car fleet instead of replacing them.In the meanwhile, the almost century-old Carrollton carbarn that housed the 1920s Perley Thomas street cars,being above sea-level, protected the historic car fleet,which came through unscathed and ready to run afterthe storm and floodwaters receded. Unfortunately, theROW of the equally historic St. Charles Line the historiccars operated on was, in parts, under water for severaldays. Press and railfan reports told tales of how thetrack, track bed, and catenary systems were totally de-stroyed by the hurricane. In an almost comical sense,while one line had a fleet of streetcars ready to run butno tracks to run on, the other two lines lost almost theirentire car fleet to the flooding but had track and powerthat would be relatively easy to restore. So, in a deftmove, New Orleans decided to get the infrastructure oftwo lightly damaged lines restored and operate withsome of the cars from the crippled line. Granted, thehistoric cars are not ADA-compliant, but a supplementalparallel bus service addresses that obligation. So, forthe time being, until at least late 2007, a unique situa-tion exists in New Orleans, the opportunity to ride andphotograph the historic green-painted streetcars on twolines they do not operate over on a regular basis!Hence, my willingness to fly on an airliner during thepeak of the holiday season at the beginning of the win-ter weather season filled with blizzards and snow/icestorms, something I am usually unwilling to do.

“I have a few general comments about the entirestreetcar system in New Orleans, a reflection of theirentire public transport system.

“1. The damage to the ROW (right-of-way) of the his-toric St. Charles Line appears to be far less severe thanI had been led to believe. During this trip, I walked aportion of the St. Charles Line from Loyola University/Audubon Park to part of Carrollton Avenue to personallyinspect the ROW. The catenary poles appear to be un-




14


damaged, no leaning or fallen posts/masts. Most stillhave a feeder cable or two strung up between them,also with no excess tension or slack caused by mis-alignment. However, all of the horizontal catenary sup-ports and trolley wires are missing. While I can see thetrolley wire being downed by the storm, I can't believethat ALL of the horizontal supports and brackets ‘fell off’exclusively from Mother Nature's wrath. Someone re-moved them; either NORTA or scavengers looking forscrap copper.

“2. Also encouraging is the fact that almost all of themagnificent oak trees lining the ROW have survived. Ihad imagined scenes of toppled and uprooted trees,their extensive root systems ripping up large sections oftrack and leaving giant holes in the ground. No suchthing. As expected, the rails are covered with a year'sworth of silt, mud, and soil. Of course the rail is rustedto a dark brown color but for the speeds the trolley usedto run at, it should not be a major issue in most sec-tions. The catenary can be re-strung, new transformersand feeders would be needed, and turnouts andswitches would need to be replaced, as would a fewbad sections of rail. The ties may have gotten water-logged, but that is not different from the norm as theentire ROW was always covered with verdant greengrass and had people jogging on its soft relativelysmooth surface. Drainage on the line was never muchgood, anyway.

“3. It almost looks like the city has simply decided notto put the restoration of the St. Charles Line on the pri-ority list. Sadly, as much as I'd like to see the historicline restored as quickly as possible, I almost have toagree with their decision. I rode the #12 substitute busservice beyond Lee Circle and noted the light volume ofridership. Most buses, on a 9" to 15" daytime headway(30" after 7 PM), operated with less than full seatedloads. The tourist traffic has simply not returned and theresidents along the line have, unfortunately, respondedto the poor bus service by getting behind the wheel oftheir cars. With the massive loss of business and jobs inthe city, there are no traffic jams, making the option todrive even more attractive. It puts the transit system intoa potentially never-ending downward spiral, significantlosses of buses and LRVs and loss of housing for RTAworkers to run the system resulting in the ability to runonly a basic level of service with the remainder of thefleet and employees. This in turn, drives away what'sleft of the ridership that has the option to drive. Declin-ing ridership causes more red ink with service on moreroutes being slashed, making a bad situation worse andworse.

“4. The massive loss of housing in the city has manyRTA employees living far out of town. Many of them lefton August 29, 2005 and never came back. With such a

loss of personnel, any contemplation of service im-provements is hampered by a lack of operators, main-tainers and support staff. We took a ‘Post-HurricaneKatrina Tour’ of the severely impacted sections of thecity. It's sorrowful, miles and miles of devastation. Itreally resembles a third world country, hard to believethat our own government has permitted these condi-tions to persist over 16 months after the hurricane. Only¼ of the residents and businesses show any evidenceof re-building their lost or damaged properties. The restare dismal wrecks, rotting, molding, decaying, and col-lapsing into oblivion. Many houses or empty land plotsstill have filthy piles of wreckage/debris sitting curbsidefor commercial carting services to haul away. It will takeyears, if ever, to get back to any sense of normalcy.Since 1986, we visited New Orleans four times and hadseen and experienced the vibrancy of the place. Now,the spirit is just gone. The French Quarter tries to put upa brave face and try to look and feel like the old days,but it just isn't there. Even Bourbon Street is desertedafter 10 PM. One good thing is that most of the panhan-dlers and criminal elements hanging out all over the cityin years past are now gone.”

Member Frank Miklos added these interesting com-ments: “The St. Charles street car line was scheduled tobe closed for about a year to permit the refurbishmentof its power distribution system. This was to have beendone during 2006 but was moved up after Katrina.There were three substations all at the same location inthe middle of the line. Under the refurbishment, onlyone substation will remain at the original location. Thetwo others will be relocated to the northern and south-ern ends of the line. The work should be completed bythe end of 2007. The grass between the rails will haveto be replaced, but in recent years it has been gettingtrampled by joggers and others. Maybe they should in-stall Astroturf, which will stand up to the abuse that thegrass takes.”

“Let's hope that the 2000-series cars can re-enter ser-vice with new electrical gear. Except for the trackgauge, it would be nice if New Orleans could borrowcars from other cities to provide a service similar to theF Line in San Francisco on Canal Street. If SEPTA hadnot scrapped its remaining PCCs it would have beennice to obtain some of them for interim service possiblyon the St. Charles Line. As they say, timing is every-thing. As far as I know the track and roadbed were doneonly a few years ago and may still be good.”Chicago, Illinois

The Chicago Transit Authority continued its tradition ofoffering penny rides on New Year’s Eve. Riders of CTAbuses and trains paid only a penny from 8 PM NewYear’s Eve until 6 AM New Year’s Day. Additionally, sev-eral bus and rail routes provided later service. Thanksto Bob Hansen for this report.




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Chesterton, IndianaAs of December 11, 2006, Hegewisch, one of NICTD’s

busiest stations, has high-level platforms. This shouldreduce the dwell time of trains markedly.Salt Lake City, Utah

Rail Transit On Line reported that the Utah Transit Au-thority has purchased 15 Comet I (Sliders) from NJTransit. Previously, UTA had acquired 30 ex-Metra gal-lery cars, but when service begins in 2008, the gallerycars will not be in service. UTA spokesman Justin Jonessaid the “Metra double-deckers were obtained at nocost (other than shipping) and, at the time they wereavailable, were the best means to provide the neces-sary passenger capacity for the project. When the Com-ets became available, they were found to be a morecost-effective solution to meeting our needs.” At the pre-sent time, the numbers of the cars involved were notavailable. When this was written, the cars were still inNew Jersey pending overhaul, for which an RFP hasbeen issued. There is an option to purchase 14 addi-tional Comets. UTA has also purchased 10 bi-levelcoaches and 12 bi-level cabs from Bombardier.Seattle, Washington

The first of 35 Kinki Sharyo LRVs arrived in Seattleduring November, 2006, and the second in late Decem-ber, and beginning in May, two cars are to be deliveredeach month. Each car is 95 feet in length, 8.7 feet wide,and 12.1 feet high. Sound Transit is paying $139 millionfor this fleet.Portland, Oregon

Beginning January 14, 29 bus lines that operate on 5th

and 6th Avenues in downtown Portland were moved tomake way for Portland Mall Light Rail construction. Thisdiversion will last for approximately two years. Buseswill return to the Mall in spring 2009. The Portland Mallproject is part of the 8.3-mile I-205/Portland Mall MAXLight Rail Project. This is TriMet's fifth MAX extensionand will add light rail to 5th and 6th Avenues betweenUnion Station and Portland State University, and be-tween Gateway Transit Center and Clackamas TownCenter. When it opens in September, 2009, it will be thefirst light rail extension into Clackamas County and willserve the heart of downtown to PSU.Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

Karl Groh wrote this very disappointing report fromCanada’s capital. “Some bad news from their capitalcity, where it seems that unlike Toronto, Calgary, andEdmonton, electric light rail cannot get to first base. TheOttawa City Council killed the $778 million light rail pro-ject so they won't start work on a North South line any-time soon. The City has already spent $65 million onthe project and cancellation will cost many millionsmore. The Siemens-PCL-Dufferin DBOM contractorshave put in claims for damages and lawyers are salivat-

ing at more expected lawsuits. Local business interestsdislike the fact that downtown streets will have to betorn up to install trackage and that will be bad for them.So the tail will wag the dog as proponents of LRT rightlyclaim that lawsuits will eat up at least half of the moneythat the line would cost and the city will wind up withnothing as it had been determined that LRT would haverelieved much downtown traffic congestion. There ishope that the Council may change its mind but not allthat much as the noisy businessmen seemingly havetheir way.”Jerusalem, Israel

From member David Klepper comes this end-of-the-year report from The Jerusalem Post. Much has hap-pened since December, 2005. In 12 months, the con-sortium building the light rail project has raised $2 bil-lion, construction of tracks is underway in four areas,and the first tracks were laid in a ceremony during No-vember, 2006. Half of the rails that will be required arealready in Israel, and the first car is under constructionin France.Taipei, Taiwan

This island nation has an electric high-speed train asof January 5, which ties together 94 per cent of the cit-ies. The New York Times reported that it operates un-der some very unusual working conditions. Train Opera-tors are German or French, and are only permitted tospeak English with Taiwanese traffic controllers. Dis-plays in cabs are also in English. Eventually, these op-erators will be replaced by Taiwanese operators, and atthat time the system will switch over to Chinese. Thetrainsets are of the Japanese bullet train design, whilethe tracks were originally designed by British andFrench engineers. The line is 215 miles in length. Ini-tially there will be 19 trains in each direction daily. Even-tually the system will be capable of handling 88 trains ineach direction. Fares are competitive with air fares. Oneexample cited, $44, was two-thirds of the price of anairline ticket between the same cities.From the History Files

75 Years Ago: On February 27, 1932, the Charles sta-tion on the Cambridge-Dorchester Line opened. Today,this station is part of the Red Line.

50 Years Ago: In February 1957, in an effort to boostridership, the New Haven Railroad placed into service alightweight trainset. The Roger Williams was a Budd-designed RDC with two single-unit cab units. The twocab units (140 and 141) were designated as model“RDC-A”, while the intermediate cars (160-163) weremodel “RDC-B.” It spent most of its time in Boston com-muter service before being acquired by Amtrak. 160-3were sold to MARC. The two cab units are fully restoredand operational, and can be found at the Danbury Rail-way Museum in Connecticut.

News items and comments concerning this column may beemailed to [email protected].



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TECH TALKTECH TALKby Jeffrey Erlitzby Jeffrey Erlitz

And you thought you were never going to see this!Bids were opened on January 18 for contract C-26002,Contract 1 for the Second Avenue Subway. Only twobids were received, as follows:

Construction Contract One includes the constructionof the tunnels between E. 92ndand E. 63rd Streets, theconstruction of the launch box for the tunnel boring ma-chine (TBM) at E. 92nd to E. 95th Streets, and construc-tion of access shafts at E. 69th and E. 72nd Streets. It isexpected that the first surface work for this contract willtake place in the first quarter of 2007 in the vicinity ofthe launch box, E. 91st to E. 95th Streets. Contract Oneis expected to be 39 months in duration.

The joint venture of Dragados and Judlau had previ-ously won the contract to construct the Manhattan tun-nels for the LIRR East Side Access project.

Two other bid openings for construction contracts tookplace in January. On the 10th, the joint venture ofSchiavone Construction and Citnalta Construction pro-duced the low bid of $108,886,000 for contract A-35927, the rehabilitation of the Jay Street-LawrenceStreet complex in Brooklyn. This long-awaited contractwill also provide a new underground free transfer be-tween the ACF and NR lines.

On the following day, Welsbach Electric Corporationsubmitted a low bid of $46,658,000.00 for contract E-31290-R, the rehabilitation of eight ventilation plants invarious locations.

Bids were scheduled to be opened on January 24 forthe third and final phase of the White Plains Road(25) Line signal rehabilitation. This will provide notonly a new signal system for the East 180th Street Yardand the main line north of the station but also a recon-figuration of the track arrangement there. Once com-

pleted, southbound 2 trains coming from Bronx ParkEast and southbound 5 trains coming from Morris Parkwill be able to enter East 180th Street station at thesame time without conflict. In addition to a new relayroom at East 180th Street, there will be a new relayroom at Bronx Park East with its own Maintainer’s con-trol panel located within.

There had been a question posted on the SubChatwebsite regarding the two automatic signals sitting onthe platforms at the currently unused Cortlandt Streetstation on the IRT 7th Avenue (1) Line. These two sig-nals were mounted horizontally and suspended from theceiling before the line was reconstructed after 9/11.When the temporary walls were installed near the plat-form edges, there was not sufficient clearance to mountthese two signals in the normal fashion so they weretemporarily installed vertically. When the station is even-tually finished, these two signals will have to be re-mounted in the usual fashion.

There were 10 M-1s in service on the Long Island RailRoad on January 8, but all were out of service at Hill-side on the 10th. An era has apparently ended on theLIRR.

Construction started on December 27 for environ-mental work at Morris Park. This $5.9 million projectwas awarded to The Franklin Company Contractorswho will remediate petroleum contaminated soil andgroundwater.

Renovations of the Lindenhurst station building wereessentially completed on December 26. New architec-tural finishes were installed as well as new entrancedoors and vintage light fixtures. Two east end stairswere replaced and the platform-level waiting room wasrenovated as well. This station, as well as Amityville andCopiague, were opened to the public on August 7, 1973when the grade crossing elimination project in that areawas completed. The station at Lindenhurst was actuallyrelocated almost one third of mile east of its former lo-cation when the elevation was placed in service.

Jeff may be contacted via email at jbe456@optonlinenet.

VENDOR NAME BID AMOUNT

Skanska/Schiavone Construction/Shea Construction

$337,025,000

Dragados/Judlau Contracting $497,777,380

On January 3, MTA New York City Transit PresidentLawrence G. Reuter, the agency’s longest-servingleader, resigned his position. His last day will be Febru-ary 9.

Reuter rejoined NYC Transit in February, 1996, re-placing Alan F. Kiepper, after running the WashingtonMetropolitan Area Transportation Authority; he had pre-viously been with NYC Transit in the 1980s in severalpositions, most recently Senior Vice President for

Buses.MTA’s press release cited NYC Transit’s key role in

the resurgence of New York City in the 1990s and itsrecovery from the 9/11 terrorist attacks in 2001 as beingamong Reuter’s accomplishments.

He will be moving to Florida, where he will work for anoffice of a major consulting firm.

At press time, no successor had been named.

NYCT PRESIDENT REUTER RESIGNSNYCT PRESIDENT REUTER RESIGNS

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In the July, 2006 issue, we explained that there was origi-nally a separate seniority list for Rockaway crews. We havereceived several comments on this subject, including the fol-lowing one from Ed Davis, author of the book They Movedthe Millions.

(A member) kindly sent me a recent Bulletin discuss-ing the Rockaway Division and crews. I won’t say I’mtotally accurate but will share my experience in correc-tion of one item.

First, I did work some rush hour E trains (as a Con-ductor in 1966) that were Rockaway-bound, and, in-deed, crews changed at Euclid; we did not go through,rush hour or not. I was relieved at Euclid and relieved a

Rockaway Conductor for my northbound trip. A trainswere still turning at Euclid or Lefferts.

Rockaway was all R-1 to R-9, as I recall. The Rock-away Division was a closed shop. No IND men couldwork it even though qualified in training unless no Rock-away man was available (and rare they weren't, thehogs)...could work OT (overtime) in RDOs (regular daysoff) or extra shifts before a straight-time IND extra manor OT RDO man could work. And they made the money,trust me...and correct — the Rockaway Division wasabolished with the Chrystie/IND-BMT merger and B-2(former IND) crews worked it, since that was mentionedas a possible fact.

ROCKAWAY SENIORITY LISTROCKAWAY SENIORITY LIST

they stand next to that door.“R-62As 1761-5 and 1906 were on the north end of a

7 local on January 4 at 1850 hrs northbound fromGrand Central to Flushing. Car 1906, a single unit, wasat the north end of the consist with small cabs at bothends; the north end of car 1761 had its converted full-width cab reduced to the smaller configuration. Therehave been at least two sets like this on 7 and there aretwo counterpart sets made up of 11 single unit R-62As.The railfan window exists on BOTH ends of these twoequipment sets.”

The next day, Ron reported another 7 train made upof two five-car units with a single car at the north end:N-2051-1811-2-3-4-5-1791-2-3-4-5-S.Inoperable Horn/Whistle on Operating Cab

Before leaving a terminal, the Train Operator must testthe horn at the operating position. If the horn is inoper-able and it cannot be corrected, the train must not beallowed to leave in revenue service. When the train iscut, the horn must be tested in the new operating posi-tion. If the train is not in the station when the horn fails,the train must proceed at restricted speed and dis-charge passengers at the next station. After the passen-gers have been discharged, the train must proceed atrestricted speed to the nearest siding or yard.Speed of Work Trains

Work trains operating on main line tracks must notexceed 25 miles per hour on straight track and 15 milesper hour on curves. The Vak-Trak vacuum trains mustnot exceed 35 miles per hour on straight and curvedtrack. Refuse collection, track geometry/Sperry cars,and shop transfer trains consisting of cars that are OKfor service should be operated according to rules appli-cable to passenger trains.Starting Lights

Train crews must be at their operating positions on the

train two minutes before the scheduled starting time.The Conductor must make public address announce-ments one minute before the scheduled departure.When the starting lights are lit, the Conductor must an-nounce, “Stand clear of the closing doors, please,” andclose the doors. Trains should leave no later than 15seconds after the scheduled leaving time.Train Door Failures En Route

Conductors investigating door failures must neverclose all doors when checking them. If they descend tothe trackway or go to the platform, they must open theemergency brake valve and pass the Train Operatorone long buzzer signal. The Conductor should open andclose the doors a second time, locate the car with theilluminated guard light, and attempt to solve the prob-lem.Door Cut-Out Procedure

Before cutting out a door, the Conductor must followthe procedure outlined in the above paragraph. He/sheshould use the Master Door Control at the Conductor’soperating position to close the section with the defectivedoor. The good section’s doors must be left open. TheConductor must go to the car with the defective door,insert the standard cab door key into the door cut-outswitch, and rotate it to the off position. He/she mustmanually close the door panel, move the door cut-outkey switch to the normal position momentarily, turn thedoor cut-out key switch to cut-out position, and removethe key. The Conductor must verify that the door islocked by attempting to open it.Announcement at Brooklyn Bridge Station

Although 6 trains carry passengers around the CityHall loop, the automated announcement system stillannounces, “last stop,” when the train stops at BrooklynBridge. To correct this error, Conductors must overridethe automated announcement with the following: “Thisis the last downtown stop on this train. The next stopwill be Brooklyn Bridge-City Hall on the uptown plat-form.”


Around New York’s Transit System

18


Around New York’s Transit System

Proposed Flushing Line ExtensionMTA expects to build a 1.1-mile extension of the

Flushing Line from Times Square to 34th Street-11th Ave-nue. To finance this project, $2 billion in bonds weresold early in December, 2006. $1.35 billion will be spentfor subway construction and the rest will be used to ac-quire property. We expect to publish a detailed accountin a future issue.Strange Things are Happening on the Flushing Line

Member Ron Yee filed the following report:“As a regular commuter on 7 from Woodside to

Grand Central, I have been noticing for the past twomonths, some 7 consist sets running with two five-carunitized sets on the south end with a single unit on thenorth end. In all but one case, the north full width cab ofthe north five-car set was converted back to the ⅓-cabconfiguration to provide access to the single unit on thenorth end of the train. The converted full-width cab stillhas the glued-on foam rubber extra insulation on thedoorframe next to the locked-up cab. I wonder how longthat will last with passengers fooling around with it as


AUGUST BELMONT’S PRIVATE RAILROAD?AUGUST BELMONT’S PRIVATE RAILROAD?by Henry Raudenbushby Henry Raudenbush

A railfan recently asked Henry Raudenbush whether thereis (or was) a platform on the IRT that led to the story/myththat August Belmont had his private car Mineola load up atthe Belmont Hotel or the Waldorf Hotel, then motor over viahis IRT to Atlantic Avenue, and across a then-existing con-necting track to the Long Island Rail Road, thence to BelmontPark to watch the Belmont Stakes race. With Henry’s permis-sion, here is an edited version of his response.

The Grand Central platform would have had nothing todo with the Belmont story. In the days when Belmontreally owned the IRT, the Lexington Avenue Line did notexist yet, and the 1904 subway was at the opposite endof Grand Central Terminal, in the station now used bythe shuttle. Although there are some “artist’s concep-tions” showing connections from the Grand Central Ter-minal loop tracks to the IRT, nothing of the sort everexisted.

As to a possible boarding location, neither the oldWaldorf (on the site of the Empire State Building) northe present (1929) Waldorf-Astoria were near the origi-nal 1904 IRT. The original line curved from Park Avenueinto E. 42nd Street under private property on the south-west corner, the location later occupied by the AirlinesTerminal building, which was later occupied by an Auto-mat. In 1904, this site was occupied by the BelmontHotel. I have heard rumors that there was an entry fromthe basement of that hotel into the subway tunnel, butthere is no obvious trace and no space for a platform.

Structural provision for an LIRR connection is quiteobvious at the Flatbush Avenue LIRR terminal. The con-nection would have continued from the ends of LIRRTracks 5 and 6, converging into a single track, whichwould curve around into the northbound IRT local track.The space for this track is quite obvious. There is a lad-der of slip switches that would have provided a connec-tion from the other IRT tracks. However, there has al-ways been doubt as to whether the connecting track

was ever actually installed or, if so, ever used. Somehave claimed that the IRT had a short siding in thatspace, but it could only have held one or at most twocars — and what purpose might that serve? Runningthe IRT business car Mineola to the Belmont Park racetrack would be an obvious use of a connection to theLIRR, but awfully hard to document. So far as I haveheard, nobody has ever found anything indicating anyrevenue service by that route, although Herman Rinkespoke of an old-timer with a fairly clear memory whoclaimed to have seen such an operation. A minor diffi-culty is that the IRT’s third rail is about two inches closerto the track than the LIRR’s; this would require somemeans of dealing with this. A shoe extending as far asthe LIRR type would probably not clear on the IRT, andan IRT shoe would be at risk of dropping down on thegage side of the LIRR contact rail.

Another little teaser: If you go about two-thirds of theway down the middle platform of the IRT Atlantic Ave-nue station, the row of columns on the west side of theplatform suddenly begins to curve inward for aboutthree or four columns. Beyond that point, the columnscontinue in the original line. This almost looks like thosecolumns had been placed to clear a second connection,from the IRT southbound express track over to theLIRR, but I have never seen documentation of any suchthing. The most likely place to look would be in the con-tract drawings for Contract II, under which the IRT sta-tion was built. LIRR drawings of that corner of the LIRRstation (south and west of Track 1) show an oddly stag-gered wall, agreeing with the present wall there, and notclearly providing for a connection. However, in about1918 the BRT Brighton Line was built directly below atthat point, at the same time that the IRT was extendedbeyond Atlantic Avenue. Structure providing space foran IRT-LIRR connection there might have been torn outat that time.

February 2007 Bulletin - erausa.org

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Transcript of February 2007 Bulletin - erausa.org